Anum Sheraz (MBE203007)

Why PIA doesn’t have Service Orientation

The flash card activity conducted in classroom was exceptionally important with
regards to team building as well as identifying the root cause of problems within any
organisation. The exercise that we carried out in classroom was helpful as it allowed us
to understand the benefits of the flash card activity. We were able to discuss why
companies do not have customer service orientation in Pakistan. I believe that this
activity can be used in professional settings because its benefits and effectiveness is
quite high. Flashcard activity can only be successful when all group members are
allowed time to brainstorm their ideas and then given equal opportunity to discuss what
they have written on their flashcard.

It is extremely important for all team members to pay attention to what the other person
is saying and find out things that have been written across the board by all team
members. My group/team constituted of five members and we discussed why Pakistan
International Airlines (PIA) does not have service orientation through this important
team building activity. For the purpose of carrying out this activity, we chose the
organisation Pakistan International Airlines and tried to understand why this
organisation does not have a service orientation predisposition. Upon brainstorming and
discussing our own ideas we found out a number of common thought patterns within our
group.

All the processes of this activity were carried out effectively. Ample time was given to
each team member so that they can put down their ideas about why PIA doesn't have
service orientation. Afterwards all team members were given a lot of time to voice their
opinions and explain their points that they had written down on the sheet of paper.
Finally a lot of time was utilized in funneling out the most common causes of the
problem by all team members. The funneling out process took a lot of time but it surely
helped us in understanding why companies like Pakistan International Airlines fail to
have a service orientation. The major issues that we all unanimously brainstormed are
listed below and also presented in the form of a flow chart:

1. Lack of Shared Vision and no inclusion of service inclination: Pakistan

International Airlines is suffering from a lack of shared vision. The top level

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management is not able to effectively share the vision of the organisation with all
the level within the organisation. This can mean that the management level are
disintegrated. The flow of communication is is hindered or flawed. It is also a
possibility that the service orientation is not a part of the overall Vision and
Mission of the organisation which would explain the lack of predisposition with
regards to service orientation.
2. Shortsighted Myopic Management Style: It is noteworthy that the
management style utilised at Pakistan International Airlines is short sighted and
myopic. Rather than providing the best customer services to their customers and
gaining their loyalty, management is only focused on the short-term revenues
and sales. If the management style is changed to a long-term and farsighted one,
the company would focus on providing excellent customer service so that repeat
purchases are done by clients.
3. Employee redundancy promoting culture of zero responsibility: It is a
known fact that there is a lot of employee redundancy at Pakistan International
Airlines. More than one employee is hired for one job which promotes the culture
of zero responsibility. No employee is willing to carry out their work and pass the
responsibility to the other employees. This way no customer services work gets
done and the overall quality of services is continually declining. On the other
hand, the blame is transferred to the other person and employees do not take
responsibility for any mistakes.
4. Old Staff that is not entirely capable of learning new practices: Most of the
staff employed at Pakistan international airline is aged and old. This limits their
capability of learning new practices like exceptional focus on customer services.
There is a lack of succession planning at Pakistan International Airlines which is
causing the decline of the organisation because no managers are prepared to
take lead or charge after the top level management retires. It is extremely
important for the organisation to hire and train young blood that is capable of
learning new practices and also promoting them.
5. Culture of Procrastination: There is a general culture of procrastination at
Pakistan International Airlines. Most of the work is delayed to the last possible

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time which reduces the overall quality and efficiency of the work. Less time is left
to put in effort in Customer services so that customers can be made loyal.
6. No focus on ethical considerations towards customers: PIA does not have a
focus on ethical considerations towards customers and community as a whole
which reflects in the the lack of service orientation predisposition in the
management at Pakistan international airports. It is important for the
management as well as all employees to be trained in ethically dealing with the
issue of customer services.
7. Lack of accountability (no check and balances): Due to the lack of
accountability, checks and balances, it has become a routine practice at Pakistan
International Airlines to compromise on the quality of customer services. The
management does not put in effort into creating a culture of higher Customer
services because of the culture of lack of accountability. It is exceptionally
important to create a culture where everyone is held accountable for their actions
otherwise the current practices will persist and the quality of customer services
will continue to be low.
8. Lack of motivation in employees due to low employee engagement: One of
the major reasons for the low customer service orientation at Pakistan
International Airlines is the lack of motivation in employees due to poor employee
engagement strategies being employed by the organisation. The management
does not put in effort into engaging and involving employees in decision making
and other operational activities. The overall level of motivation in employees to
go the extra Mile for their organisation is very low and they only do the bare
minimum to keep their jobs. It is a certainly important for the organisation to work
on improving the overall employee engagement in order to boost the morale and
motivation levels in employees so that they work hard towards achieving the
customer services goals of the organisation.
9. Resistance to change: There is an apparent resistance to change in employees
that hinders them from adopting new and better customer services practices.
Due to their uncertainity and job insecurity, the employees resist changing the
way things are done around the PIA workplace.

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Anum Sheraz (MBE203007)

Flow Chart of Problems

Why PIA doesn't have

service predisposition

Lack of Shared Vision

Shortsighted Myopic
and no inclusion of
Management Style
service inclination

Employee redundancy Old Staff that is not

promoting culture of entirely capable of
zero responsibility learning new practices

No focus on ethical
Culture of
considerations
Procrastination
towards customers

Lack of motivation in
Lack of accountability
employees due to low
(no check and Resistance to Change
employee
balances)
engagement

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